The web space has been rampant all day with a rumor that E3, as we know it, will cease to exist from here on out. Next Generation has the exclusive, stating that “the larger exhibitors have jointly decided that the costs of the event do not justify the returns, generally measured in media exposure,” and furthermore that “publishers believe the multi-million dollar budgets would be better spent on more company-focused events that bring attention to their own product lines rather than the industry as a whole.”

While none of this is official yet, Next Generation believes that the President of the ESA will make the announcement sometime within the next 48 hours.

Next Generation: E3 cancelled

Now, before your world starts falling apart, continue reading after the cut for speculation as to what this really means.

E3 was like every holiday, birthday, and special occasion of the year for gamers crammed into three days. While it made us giddy enough to explode, the exhibitors probably felt like they were getting lost in all the fuzz. So instead of everything being crammed into a single event it sounds like now everyone is going to be hosting their own parties where they’ll make their big announcements. It’s expected that E3 will make a return in some lesser form next year, but the real happenings will be the developers’ shows and it’s now more likely that we’ll see things like Nintendo’s Spaceworld make a comeback.

Sure, we’ll all miss E3 as it was basically a three day long holiday for gamers, but this is a change that could be for the best. We’ll just have to wait and see how the next few years pan out.

Submitter: Thanks to everyone who submitted the news